I live and work in Xiamen as an English teacher. I teach kids from the age of 2 to 16 as well as adults, for English First. I work 5 days a week but luckily I have plenty of evening shifts, so I manage to get out and about most nights as well. I like to get out with friends in the city, going out to bars, restaurants, arcades, playing football, pretty much whatever's happening. I like to party hard, and I also like to sleep hard. Right through the hangover. But as far as I'm concerned, time enjoyed wasting isn't time wasted.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm keen on meeting new people, giving people a taste of the Xiamen that I know and getting a locals' perspective on cities I'm going to visit. I have plenty of friends who have couchsurfed for years and 99% of their stories are good ones, so why not give it a go?

Interests

I'm lucky to have a close group of friends in Xiamen, with a wide range of hobbies and passions between them all. There's quite a bit to do in Xiamen, so we get up to something several times a week, from going to the movies, hitting Helen's Bar (amongst others), drinking and bowling until 2 in the morning, playing football, X-Box sessions or bad movie nights, we get around! Any other night, I stay in with my girlfriend and watch movies or try to cook edible food.

• dogs
• dining
• cooking
• partying
• drinking
• shopping
• movies
• juggling
• skateboarding
• boxing
• soccer
• bowling
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

I listen to a range of music, anything from Hip-Hop to Rock to Indie. I'll give anything a listen, so long as it doesn't have anything to do with Justin Bieber, 1D or any crap artists like that.

My favourite movie might be The Prestige, though I'll go in for anything that makes you think. Equally, I'll go in for a mindless action flick like Dredd or The Raid, though I've got a particular soft-spot for old-school JCVD, Segal or Schwarzenegger. But no musicals. Or rom-coms. Except Singing in the Rain because obviously that's not just a film; it's an epic.

When it comes to books, I've read a range of stuff, from classical horror such as Dracula or Frankenstein (my all time favourite), as well a range of socio-political works such as The Communist Manifesto, The Social Contract and Republic. I read non-fiction, novels and graphic novels, though my reading time is taken up trying to learn Icelandic right now.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've travelled a lot in my few years, seen a lot and done a lot, so I've got a few great stories, making it harder to pick out the best single one. My inter-rail trip around Europe before university has to be close to the top, though. My brother and I managed to get around 13 countries in just 22 days, dodging pimps, drunk Frenchmen, drunk Australians, Polish skinheads, Czech bikers and packs of stray Romanian dogs, having drink-offs with Norwegians, Romanians and Irish, nearly dying in Bucharesti traffic and surviving death-metal gigs in Munich. It was one of the most eventful 3 (and a bit) weeks of my life to date.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm an English teacher and so I'm more than happy to talk to non-natives and help with your English, I can also teach you the most important life skill of all; juggling. I can also teach you to skateboard, another crucial skill if you want to get anywhere in life.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share a lot of information about Xiamen with visitors and couchsurfers. Having lived here for around 15 months, I can give surfers advice on which spots to see and which ones to skip, what areas to go shopping as well as what spots to hit at night.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, England, Iceland, Norway